“Shove It: Part 2” (The Buffaloe Pen) is Julie’s story of having her deeply personal poem about rape rejected by a literary journal editor.

But it wasn’t just rejected. The editor, who is obviously a rapist or rapist-in-waiting, wrote her a six-page diatribe about how women were provocative and usually “have it coming” and women who write about rape secretly want it and he was sick and tired of man-hating women whinging about rape.

Read her poetic response, “Don’t write a poem about rape”. Trigger warnings.

Rape is a cliché.

Unless it happens to you.

But don’t write a poem about it

or the editor might say

it’s just not fresh.

Rape is not fresh.

It’s been done too much.

The rest is at the link.

Categories: gender & feminism, violence

Tags: books & writing, rape, sexual violence